Wednesday, July 19, 2006

20 minuts of fun

I mentioned I had fun today. Yeah, that should be "fun." Now at my job we have to move a lot of airplanes around. Move them out of the hanger, into the hanger, around the lot, go get planes to work on, take planes back that we have finished with. You get the picture. So far, I have either towed planes with the tug, in a strictly forward direction, or moved/backed up planes by sheer brute force. Today, I got to do it all with the tug. Let me say that backing a plane up with a tug is probably one of the hardest things I have ever done. I can back up a trailer no problem. A plane though has an extra pivot point, because of the nose wheel. That REALLY throws off my groove. Now it wouldn't have been such a big deal if I had gotten to do it on a Cessan 172 for a while. The reason why is b/c it doesn't matter how cock-eyed and chueco you get, you won't damage the nosegear. The two planes I got to work with though were planes that cost about $500,000 each (pictured above), and have a very narrow turn on the nosewheel. You turn too far, things break. Those things cost about $30,000. Would I have to pay for it if I broke it? Probably. At least some of it. THAT is why I had a fun 20 minutes. Stressing out hardcore about turning it too sharp, and all the other guys who are helping me are going, "You got it, just a bit more. Now straighten up. No, turn left...left...your other left." Crap like that. Oh yeah, it was almost 100 today. Cooler than the 107 yesterday, and the 106 the day before, but still blazing. The tug has no power steering, and all the turns are done at a stand-still or just creeping, so it makes the steering wheel even harder to turn. In the space of four minutes, I formed a blister, popped that blister, and then had it peel off.

Ridgewood

Others

About Me

I am a gypsy at heart. Homeless, yet at home anywhere. Currently I am doing time...getting the experience needed to become a Missionary Pilot. I love photography...and India. I think I might have left my heart there when I visited.